This invention relates to devices for printing indicia on sheets of paper or other printable media, and more particularly, to printing devices which may be disposed either horizontally or vertically.
With the advent of computers offices, homes and other institutions now commonly make use of devices or equipment for printing indicia on sheets of paper or other printable media. Examples of such devices are: printers, facsimile machines, copiers, etc. Heretofore such equipment has been limited in the manner in which it is disposed, e.g., it is either arranged to be disposed horizontally, such as on a desk, table, shelf, etc., or vertically, e.g., mounted on a wall.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,454,555 (Kiyohara) discloses a printer having a sheet feeding cassette and a sheet feed tray for providing paper to the printer. The printer may be used in a vertical or horizontal orientation but, as seen in FIGS. 1 and 3, is limited to being disposed on a horizontal surface.
While the Kiyohara patent may be generally suitable for its purposes. It still leaves much to be desired from various standpoints.
A need exists for a printer having a base arranged to be disposed horizontally or vertically on a horizontally or vertically oriented support surface, and with the printer having a reorientable paper input tray arranged to be mounted in either of two orientations with respect to the printer so that it can always be disposed generally vertically irrespective of the horizontal or vertical orientation of the printer, whereupon a printed page can drop out of the printer for collection and/or collation.
These and other objects of the invention are accomplished by providing a device, e.g., a printer, for producing an image on a sheet of paper or other printable material. The device having a base arranged to be mounted so that said base is disposed horizontally or vertically on a horizontally or vertically oriented support surface. The device has a reorientable sheet input tray and an outlet. The sheet input tray is arranged to be mounted in any of at least two orientations with respect to the device so that the input tray can always be disposed in a generally vertical direction irrespective of the horizontal or vertical orientation of the device. The sheet input tray is arranged to receive at least one sheet of paper or other printable sheet material and is coupled to the device so that at least one sheet of paper or other printable sheet material enters into the device.